A continuously variable transmission, of the above explained construction, has also been disclosed under the designation CVT with i.sup.2 arrangement (Multi-pass Continuously Variable Transmission). With it the ratio range (that is, the range of adjustment as a proportion of the maximum to minimum ratio) of a mechanical variometer can be raised to the second power.
In EP-A-O 210 053 a CVT with i.sup.2 arrangement has been disclosed. The peculiarity of said arrangement is to be seen in that the variometer is asymmetrically designed so that the maximum step-down ratio can be equal to or smaller than the maximum reduction ratio.
In comparison with a stepped selector transmission, continuous transmissions in general suffer the disadvantage of a poorer transmission efficiency.